Got Stuff?

(Disclaimer *this is an old article I've not yet posted, no mom, I’m not going away!)

Tomorrow we leave on a mini-holiday of sorts.  A get-away to a friend’s cabin for jumps in the lake, bon-fires, and backgammon.  We’ll be back before we know it, but I am looking forward to the whole excursion.  Except this one thing:  I’m not done packing.

I’ve never been good about this whole organization thing.  I’ve got the broad strokes covered, and we’ll no doubt leave prepared, but it’s the clutter and the piles of stuff that get left behind that bugs me.  We won’t leave with a tidy, ordered house.  Then, we will come back with more junk and piles of stuff to sort through, clean, and put away.  And let’s just say, I’d rather be in Paris.

As I sit across from my unpacked suitcase, and laundry basket full of clothes, I can’t help but feel a well of anger and resentment build up inside me.   I stare down the empty suitcase like a bad habit I can’t shake.   Why am I always chasing my tail?  Why is there always something to be done?  Why can’t I stay on top of it all?  Why is there so much stuff?

I know people who soak in organization like a hot bubble bath.  They relish it, with their lists and tick boxes. In some miraculous way they find satisfaction in it all.  Their drawers are tidy.  There is a place for everything and everything in its place.  I’ve gotten better at it.  But it will certainly never be my calling.

The problem with packing is we spend so much of our lives doing it to arrive somewhere. We pack our lunches, our backpacks, our gym bags, our suitcases, our cars, our picnics, our sports gear, all in preparation for something that is about to happen.  Something we are anticipating.  Or something, that we aren’t, but just have to get done. 

I don’t know about you, but my absolute favorite part of the getting there is in the journey itself.  We’ll call it stage 2 post packing.  It’s the part that involves just travelling.  The road trips.  The sitting back and getting lost in ones thoughts of adventures that are to come, or the ones we’ve left behind.  There is no doing in the journey, just being, and how can rest and contentment not be found in that?

Jesus talked often about packing for a trip.  Well, metaphorically speaking.  He spoke of being prepared for another place.  Another home and leaving behind, someday, this one that’s not our own.  The good news is, he tells us that he is packing our bags for the journey.  I am preparing a place for you.  There are many rooms in my father’s house.  He’s picked out the best B & B there is.  No online booking.  No extravagant prices.  And the best part of all, no packing!

We get to leave behind our to-do lists.  Toss away our organizers.  Turn off our blackberries (ok bring them if the mere thought causes terror!) We don’t have to worry if we forgot our straightening irons or advil pm’s.  He’s preparing and the details are divinely taken care of. And he tells us this:  just come.  Just you.  Beautiful. Complete.  Broken.  You.   No extras needed.  You are already in stage 2 post packing.  You are enough just as you are.  Leave your suitcases behind. Or bring them if you must, but your baggage will be stowed safely when you arrive at your destination because it’s not needed there.  He has everything taken care of. And the beauty is, there is no mess to go back to.  No stuff to unpack.   He greets you with open arms and welcomes you inside.  Welcome Home.

~Don't be troubled.  You trust God, now trust in me.  There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you.  If this were not so, I would tell you plainly.  When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.  And you know where I am going and how to get there.  John 14:2